The persistence of the civic–ethnic binary: competing visions of the nation and civilization in western, Central and Eastern Europe

Blackburn, Matthew

doi:10.1080/14608944.2021.2006169

Cited by 8 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…However, this article shows, populist uses of civilizational discourses differ from non-populist discourses insofar as they use civilizationism to construct internal divisions between an ingroup who they claim belong to 'our' civilization ('the people'), and outgroups ('elites', 'others') who they claim have either betrayed the civilization of the people or belong to a threatening foreign civilization. In contrast, the civiliationalist yet non-populist Putin regime in Russia alleges that Russia is the victim of a civilizational war with the liberaldemocratic West, but does not attempt to construct a 'people vs. elites' struggle within Russia based on civilizational difference (Silvius 2015;Blackburn 2021).…”

Section: Civilizational Populismmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the 21st century, across a variety of democratic political contexts, 'civilizationism', a political discourse that uses a largely religious classification of peoples in order to define national identity, has become a significant component of populist political rhetoric. Governing populist parties in India, Turkey, Pakistan, Hungary, Poland, and Brazil, as well as opposition and minor populist parties and individual politicians in Western Europe, Indonesia, and Australia, have achieved political and electoral success using civilizational rhetoric (Saleem 2021;Barton et al 2021;Blackburn 2021;Kaya and Tecmen 2019). In India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has described the state India as the modern manifestation of ancient Hindu civilization, which is today threatened by the presence of Islam and other non-Hindu groups (Saleem 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Civilizational Populism: Definition, Literature, Theory, and Practice

Yilmaz

Morieson

2022

Religions

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The purpose of this article is to clarify the concept of ‘civilizational populism’ and work towards a concise but operational definition. To do this, the article examines how populists across the world, and in a variety of different religious, geographic, and political contexts, incorporate and instrumentalize notions of ‘civilization’ into their discourses. The article observes that although a number of scholars have described a civilization turn among populists, there is currently no concrete definition of civilization populism, a concept which requires greater clarity. The article also observes that, while scholars have often found populists in Europe incorporating notions of civilization and ‘the clash of civilizations’ into the discourses, populists in non-Western environments also appear to have also incorporated notions of civilization into their discourses, yet these are rarely studied. The first part of the article begins by discussing the concept of ‘civilizationism’, a political discourse which emphasizes the civilizational aspect of social and especially national identity. Following this, the article discusses populism and describes how populism itself cannot succeed unless it adheres to a wider political programme or broader set of ideas, and without the engendering or exploiting of a ‘crisis’ which threatens ‘the people’. The article then examines the existing literature on the civilization turn evident among populists. The second part of the article builds on the previous section by discussing the relationship between civilizationism and populism worldwide. To do this, the paper examines civilizational populism in three key nations representing three of the world’s major faiths, and three different geographical regions: Turkey, India, and Myanmar. The paper makes three findings. First, while scholars have generally examined civilizational identity in European and North American right-wing populist rhetoric, we find it occurring in a wider range of geographies and religious contexts. Second, civilizationism when incorporated into populism gives content to the key signifiers: ‘the pure people’, ‘the corrupt elite’, and ‘dangerous ‘others’. In each case studied in this article, populists use a civilization based classification of peoples to draw boundaries around ‘the people’, ‘elites’ and ‘others’, and declare that ‘the people’ are ‘pure’ and ‘good’ because they belong to a civilization which is itself pure and good, and authentic insofar as they belong to the civilization which created the nation and culture which populists claim to be defending. Conversely, civilizational populists describe elites as having betrayed ‘the people’ by abandoning the religion and/or values and culture that shaped and were shaped by their civilization. Equally, civilizational populists describe religious minorities as ‘dangerous’ others who are morally bad insofar as they belong to a foreign civilization, and therefore to a different religion and/or culture with different values which are antithetical to those of ‘our’ civilization. Third, civilizational populist rhetoric is effective insofar as populists’ can, by adding a civilizational element to the vertical and horizontal dimensions of their populism, claim a civilizational crisis is occurring. Finally, based on the case studies, the paper defines civilizational populism as a group of ideas that together considers that politics should be an expression of the volonté générale (general will) of the people, and society to be ultimately separated into two homogenous and antagonistic groups, ‘the pure people’ versus ‘the corrupt elite’ who collaborate with the dangerous others belonging to other civilizations that are hostile and present a clear and present danger to the civilization and way of life of the pure people.

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Section: Civilizational Populismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Civilizational Populism: Definition, Literature, Theory, and Practice

Yilmaz

Morieson

2022

Religions

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show abstract

“…The classic distinction here is between jus sanguinis and jus soli (Brubaker, 1992), which is supposed to be mutually imbricated in the distinction between ethno-nationalism on one hand, and civic nationalism on the other (Kohn, 1944). However, this dichotomy has long been the subject of critique (see e.g., Alba and Foner, 2014;or Blackburn, 2022 andPogonyi, 2022, in the context of Eastern European countries). That is, countries with so-called jus sanguinis are argued to be no more ethnically exclusionary than those with jus soli, and those with jus soli no more inclusive than those with jus sanguinis.…”

Section: Nationalism and Its Consequences For Immigrationmentioning

confidence: 99%